Needlework As Art Part 28

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pl. 42.

Italian "Nun's Work," from a pyx cloth, sixteenth century.]

Many charming designs for this kind of st.i.tch may be found in the old German pattern-books of the Renaissance (Spitzen Musterbucher), and also in those Venetian "Corone di Vertuose Donne" lately reprinted by the Venetian publisher Organia. These are worthy of a place in every library of art.

It would seem best to place the chain st.i.tch named "tambour" in this cla.s.s, as it naturally a.s.similates with the plaited and cross st.i.tches. It is so called from the drum-shaped frame of the last century in which it was usually worked.

_Part 5._

OPUS PLUMARIUM (_or plumage work_).

The "Opus Plumarium" is one of the most ancient groups, and includes all flat st.i.tches, of which the distinguishing mark is, that they _pa.s.s_ each other, overlap, and blend together. "Stem," "twist,"

"j.a.panese st.i.tch," and "long and short" or "embroidery st.i.tch," belong to this cla.s.s, to which I propose to restore its original t.i.tle of plumage work.

The origin of the name is much disputed, but it is supposed to have pointed to a decoration of plumage work, and we find that feathers have been an element in artistic design from the earliest times. There were patterns in Egyptian painting which certainly had feathers for their motive (fig. 21, p. 208).

Semper, finding that birds'-skins were a recognized article for trade in China, 2205 B.C.,[333] believes that they were used as onlaid application for architectural decoration; and this is possible, for we still obtain from thence specimens of work in different materials partly onlaid in whole feathers, whereas sometimes the longer threads of the feathers are woven by the needle into the ground web. In Her Majesty's collection there are some specimens from Burmah--creatures resembling sphinxes or deformed cherubim, executed in feathers, applied on silk and outlined in gold. We have likewise from Burmah, in the Indian Museum, two peac.o.c.ks[334] similarly worked; the legs and beaks are solidly raised in gold thread; and the outlines also are raised in gold, giving the appearance of enamelling. The _cloisonne_ effect of brilliant colours, contrasted and enhanced by the separation of the gold outlines, can be seen to perfection in specimens of the beautiful Pekin jewellers' work, where the feathers are inlaid in gold ornaments for the head and in the handles of fans. Nothing but gems can be more resplendent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 21.

Feather patterns, Egyptian.]

These survivals help us to understand the casual mention we find in cla.s.sical authors, of the works of the Plumarii, which appellation was given at last to all embroiderers who were not Phrygians.[335]

We have other glimpses of Oriental feather-work in different parts of India.[336]

The use of feathers is common in the islands of the Pacific. It is native to the Sandwich islanders; and M. Jules Remy describes the Hawaiian royal mantle, which was being constructed of yellow birds'

feathers through seven consecutive reigns, and was valued in Hawaii at 5,000,000 francs. A mantle of this description is the property of Lady Bra.s.sey.

In Africa, ancient Egyptian art furnishes us with traditional feather patterns and head-dresses; and Pigafetta tells us of costumes of birds' skins, worn in the kingdom of Congo in the sixteenth century for their warmth; sea-birds' feathers being highly esteemed.[337]

In America, where birds are most splendid, the art of the feather worker was carried to the greatest perfection. It was found there by the Spaniards, and recorded in all their writings for its beauty of design and execution, and for its great value, equal to that of gold and precious stones.

Though now looked down upon, as being a semi-barbarous style of decoration, because it exists no longer except in semi-barbarous countries, we must consider feather work as a relic of a past higher civilization which has died out, rather than simply as the effort of the savage to deck himself in the brightest colours attainable.

Feather-work is a lost art, but the name of "opus plumarium" remains, and proves that it was still recognized as such in the days of Roman luxury. The name survived when the practice was all but forgotten in Europe,[338] and the art itself disused, probably, because the birds of our continent rarely have any lovely plumage to tempt the eye.

But the glory of feather-work was found again in Mexico and Peru, and the surrounding nations, in the sixteenth century--praised, exalted, demoralized, and crushed out by the cruelties of conquest. The Spaniards at first brought home beautiful garments and hangings, representing G.o.ds and heroes, all worked in feathers.[339] Under their rule the natives produced pictures agreeable to the taste of their masters. Pope Sixtus V. accepted a head of St. Francis, which had been executed by one of the ablest of the "amantecas" (the name for an artist in feathers). Sixtus was struck with surprise and admiration at the beauty and artistic cleverness of the work, and, until he had touched and examined it closely, would not believe that plumage was the only material used.

There are beautiful hangings and bed furniture at Moritzburg, near Dresden, said to have belonged to Montezuma. They were given to Augustus the Strong, King of Poland, by a king of Spain.

In the seventeenth century, and later, feather work was still an art in Mexico, the convents continuing to preserve its traditions.

Bustamente says that this industry was still in operation in the beginning of our century. The Mexican Museum preserves specimens of the last three hundred years, from the time of the conquest of Mexico.

There is in the Cluny Museum, in Paris, a beautiful triptych, evidently of the sixteenth century. It is worked in feathers, with delicate outlines in fine gold thread. Nothing can exceed the tenderness and harmony of the colouring in shades of blue, and warm and cool brown tints. This is probably a survival of that lost art of Mexico which was carried on in their convents, and may have been a copy of a treasured relic of European art.

Among the few noteworthy specimens that have survived, is the mitre of St. Carlo Borromeo at Milan, described by M. F. Denis as being both artistic and beautiful. He tells us in his Appendix that even now, a tissue of feathers is woven in France, as soft and flexible as a silk damask; and rivalling the Mexican scarlet feather fabric, which the Spaniards admired so greatly. He also speaks of the inlaid feather work, invented by M. Le Normant of Rouen, in the last century, and afterwards continued in Paris by his English pupil, Mr. Levet, who sold two of his works to the then Duke of Leeds, in 1735. The first is a vase of flowers, the second a peac.o.c.k, designed by M. Oudry (peintre du Roi). Both of these, framed as screens, are now at Hornby Castle.

Unfortunately feathers are, by their nature, most attractive to that greatest destroyer, next to Attila--the moth. Ghirlandajo called mosaic in marble and gla.s.s, "painting for eternity;" we may call feather work, "painting for a day."

From the essays of M. Ferdinand Denis,[340] much may be learned of the _arte plumaria_ of the Mexicans and their neighbours of Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, and Yucatan, and the land of the Zapotecas, &c., where it was also cultivated. He says that their civilization is so mysterious that we have as yet no means of judging whence came their art.

Fergusson suggests the similarity between Central Asian and Central American art, both in architectural forms and plastic and sculptured remains. He thinks that its tradition was transmitted from Asia to America in the third and fourth centuries of our era. If so, it was an unlucky moment for the recipients, as the art of Asia, as well as that of Europe, was then at its lowest and most debased phase; perhaps, however, the more fit for the fertilization of that of a perfectly barbarous people. There is something fascinating in the suggestions on this subject in Mr. Donelly's "Atlantis;" but when conjecture is only founded on tradition, and without proof, we must not take it into serious consideration.

Having proved the universal use of feathers, it is not difficult to appreciate the causes which suggested everywhere the transfer of this decorative art to another craft, employing less perishable materials.

Embroidery probably followed it closely and absorbed it throughout Asia and in Egypt; and the survivals now are only an accidental specimen, a tradition, and a name.[341]

The name "Plumarii," for the embroideries, is thus fully accounted for, and we need seek no further elucidation. It was commonly used in cla.s.sical Roman times. "Opus plumarium" seems to have become the legitimate term for all needlework. The Plumarii were the embroiderers, whether their work was in wool, or thread, or in silk (at a later period),[342] with or without admixture of gold or silver (as the Argentarii were the jewellers).

The article on the word "plumarius" in Hoffman's Lexicon,[343] after describing two kinds of Plumarii, Phrygians and Babylonians, proceeds to say, "These latter, who wove garments and hangings of various colours, were called 'Plumarii;' but though this name was at first confined to craftsmen who wove patterns in the shape of feathers, in course of time the name was extended to those artists who, with the needle or by painting, embellished robes."[344]

The "opus plumarium" included, as I before said, all flat st.i.tches; and I repeat that "feather application" was certainly its first motive; and next came the st.i.tches that conveyed the same desired effect, though a new material was employed, fitted for the needle, which, having served its apprenticeship in "plain work," now came to the front as a decorative agent.

Painting with the needle began with an attempt to model with it; the lay of st.i.tches being so arranged as to give the whole effect of light and shadow, so as to delineate the forms without changing the shades of the material used. I give on the opposite page some j.a.panese birds, which will explain what I mean. The st.i.tches are so intelligently placed as absolutely to give the forms of the birds imitated. They represent plumage, and a more artistic representation cannot be imagined. (Pl. 43.)

The same st.i.tch which we find prevailing in China and j.a.pan as plumage work, is employed in embroidering flowers. Here satin, stem, and plumage st.i.tches are blended together, and excellent decorative effects are produced; but the texture of flowers is not to be imitated, as is that of the plumage of birds. "Satin" st.i.tch is a more restricted form of plumage st.i.tch; and "stem" is another variety of these flat st.i.tches, very useful in its place. I therefore have a.s.signed the name of "plumage st.i.tch" to that hitherto called "embroidery" or "long and short" st.i.tches; and I give the term "plumage work" to include all the "flat" st.i.tches.

Practically, it is allowed that these flat st.i.tches, especially the plumage st.i.tch, give most scope for freedom in needlework, as they are laid on at once, and according to the inspiration of the worker, and may cover the outline and efface it. The st.i.tches are not counted, and have more of the nature of touch than any others, as their length, thickness, and closeness may be varied at will. The artist's design thus admits of interpretation according to the taste and feeling of the needlewoman.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pl. 43.

j.a.panese Opus Plumarium.]

_Part 6._

OPUS CONSUTUM (_or cut work_).

This is "Patchwork," or "Applique" ("inlaid" and "onlaid"). Vasari calls it "Di commesso," and says that Botticelli invented it for the use of Church banners, as being much more effective than any other style of work, or even than painting, as the outlines remained firm (non si stinguano), and were not affected by the weather (as in painted cloths) and were visible on both sides of the banner.

Botticelli drew with his own hand the baldachino of Or San Michele, and the embroideries on a frieze carried in procession by the monks of Santa Maria Novella; he died 1515. Perhaps he may have revived the art of application in his own day.

There are, however, much earlier examples of patchwork, of which the first and most remarkable is the Egyptian funeral tent of Queen Isi-em-Kheb, mother-in-law of Shishak, who besieged and took Jerusalem three or four years after the death of Solomon, B.C. 980. It may be described as a mosaic, or patchwork of prodigious size, made of thousands of pieces of gazelles' skins, dyed, and neatly sewn together with threads of colour to match, resembling the st.i.tching of a glove, the outer edges bound with a cord of twisted pink leather, sewn on with stout pink thread (pl. 44). The colours are described as being wonderfully preserved, when it is remembered that they are nearly as old as the Trojan War; though perhaps their preservation is less surprising than that the flowers wreathed about several royal mummies of the same period should have shown their colours and forms when the cases were first opened, so as to be recognized as blue larkspur, yellow mimosa, and a red Abyssinian flower, ma.s.sed closely together on the foundation of a strong leaf cut in zigzags. Among the flowers lay a dead wasp, whose worthless little form and ident.i.ty were as perfectly preserved as those of the mighty monarch on whose bosom it had completed its short existence. The tent itself consists of a centre or flat top, divided down the middle, and covered over one half with pink and yellow rosettes on a blue ground; on the other half are six large vultures, each surrounded with a hieroglyphic text which is really an epitaph. The side flaps are adorned first with some narrow bands of colour; then with a fringe pattern; then with a row of broad panels, red, green, and yellow, with a device or picture and inscription in the two other colours; on this border there are kneeling gazelles, each with a pink Abyssinian lotus blossom hanging to its collar. The rest of the side flaps and the whole of the front and back flaps are composed of large squares, alternately pink and green. This, for its antiquity, its style, its st.i.tchery, materials, and colours, is a most interesting work of early art, and an example of the perfection to which it had attained. It is remarkable how much variety of effect has been produced with only four colours, by the artistic manner of placing and contrasting them. To our more advanced taste, however, the whole effect of the contrasting colours is inharmonious and gaudy, though certainly striking and typical.[345]

Another piece of Egyptian application, from the Museum at Turin, is a pretty leaf pattern cut out in red stuff, laid on a white ground, and worked down with a darker outline of the same colour.[346]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 22.

Piece of applique in red stuff and red outlines from Egypt.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pl. 44.

Funeral Tent of Isi-em-Kheb. From Villiers Stuart's "Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen."]

We have an instance of ancient "application" of about 600 years later, Greek in its beauty of design and execution. Alas! we can only ascertain, from tattered fragments taken out of a tomb in the Crimea, that it was pa.r.s.eme with figures on horseback or in chariots. The border is very beautiful. Compare the fragments of which we have obtained a copy with the mantle of Demeter, from a Greek vase, and you will perceive how the styles correspond (Pl. 16, Fig. 23). The ground material is of the finest woven wool, of a deep violet or purple colour, enriched with application of another fine woollen fabric of a most brilliant green, worked down, outlined and embroidered in white, black, and gold-coloured wool, apparently in stem st.i.tches.[347] The accompanying ill.u.s.tration gives the effect and general design of the outer border only, in which the applied leaf is worked down in red, gold, and white.

It is much to be regretted that the centre of the mantle is so tattered and discoloured that it is impossible to do more than ascertain that the design that is embroidered on it consists of figures on horseback or in chariots, in spirited att.i.tudes. The second and broader border is to be found (pl. 17).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 23.

Narrow border of a Greek mantle.]

"Opus consutum" cannot in any sense perhaps be the name of a st.i.tch or st.i.tches. But it applies to a peculiar style of embroidery employing certain st.i.tches. It is the term given to all work cut out of plain or embroidered materials, and applied by "working down" to another material as grounding. It includes all raised and stuffed application in silk, woollen, and metal thread work. It has been given to all work in which the scissors are active agents, whether in cutting out the outlines or in incising the pattern, as in much of the linen and muslin embroideries of our day, now called "Madeira work," of which a great deal was made in the first part of the century by English ladies who designed and collected patterns from each other, and gave the produce of their industry as gifts to their friends for collars, cuffs, and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs.[348]

"Cut work" is named by Chaucer, and is constantly to be found in inventories from his time to the beginning of the last century. At Coire, in the Grisons, is a very beautiful chasuble, of which the orphrey is of the school of the elder Holbein or Lucas Cranach, applied and raised so as to form a high relief. The figures are covered with satin and embroidered. The chasuble itself is of fine Saracenic silk, woven with golden inscriptions in broad stripes. The colours are brown, crimson, and gold.